After meeting the NBA trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers immediately turned to the buyout market to improve their roster. Even though there weren’t many potential players to choose from, the team decided to bring in Spencer Dinwiddie, originally from Los Angeles to give the team another proven veteran scorer off the bench.
Unfortunately for Dinwiddie, the transition to a bench role in his hometown was difficult. He has struggled to find his place on this team since his arrival about a month ago. Dinwiddie played a lot of minutes, at a rate of 24.8 per game, but he didn’t make much of an impact on the basketball court.
However, Dinwiddie made a huge impact in the win over the Milwaukee Bucks recently, with the 30-year-old making the decisive block against superstar guard Damian Lillard down the stretch.
After the match, Dinwiddie spoke with Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet on his role on the team and how he had to adapt to a different style of play:
“I just understand the team I’m coming into,” Dinwiddie said. “We already had a strong team, I didn’t get traded…I’m not going to lie, scoring the ball is fun, high usage offense is fun, but you have to be able to adapt. We’re trying to win a championship, so I have to play the role that’s been given to me.
Although Dinwiddie is sorely lacking in the offensive department, averaging 5.4 points per game since signing with the Lakers, he clearly has the right mentality moving forward. He’s willing to sacrifice that kind of goalscorer to give this team the best chance at title contention this season.
With Dinwiddie ready to take on the role he’s been given and D’Angelo Russell playing crazy lately, the Lakers might still have a chance to move up to 6th place in the Western Conference. Obviously, injuries to LeBron James (ankle) and Anthony Davis (shoulder) are concerns going forward, but the role players are stepping up, with Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves also making big plays of late, which bodes well for this team. chances of success late in the 2023-24 campaign.
Game-winning block meant ‘everything’ to Spencer Dinwiddie
After D’Angelo Russell gave the Lakers the lead late in the fourth quarter against Giannis Antetounmpo and company, Los Angeles had to rally on defense for one last possession, with everyone in the building knowing the ball basketball would be in Damian’s hands. Lillard.
With all eyes on Lillard, an unlikely hero emerged on defense. Lakers newcomer Spencer Dinwiddie got the game-winning block on Lillard as time expired, a moment that Certainly, it meant everything to the Los Angeles native.
“That’s all. I’m not going to lie to you. Having been a heavily used offensive player my entire career, I mean, even as a kid, stuff like that, I kind of dreamed of those moments in terms of shooting, not necessarily blocking. But it’s just as sweet. It’s fun to take on a new role on my childhood team and be productive in the sense of helping us achieve wins. So it’s not lost on me and it’s something that I’m definitely going to cherish for the rest of my life,” Dinwiddie said.
